School board candidates face off

Number of years on Gaylord Community Schools Board of Education : been on the Board 4 years

Previous experience in elected office: president and secretary of Regional Education Media Center (REMC) Advisory Council

The board of education recently voted to include $1.2 million in cuts to the 2004-'05 budget. In a $25 million budget, where would you look to find savings?

You must first ask your staff for suggestions. Our board has gotten many excellent suggestions from our principals and directors. We must always focus on what we can do with the least impact on kids.

Advertisement

How do you assure students receive an adequate education as a result?

This is the most important thing and it is what we consider in anything we do including cutbacks. I feel we have a good staff and they will do everything in their power to provide a good education to the students of GCS.

Contract negotiations are complete for 2003-'04. The contract for the teachers will need to be renegotiated for next year. What areas of concern do you see for the school (e.g. health care, wages, etc.) and how would you address them?

It is obvious to this board as well as all school boards throughout Michigan that health care is an area that must be addressed. We cannot continue to pay the entire bill for this benefit. It is something that is part of negotiations and must be dealt with within that venue.

Traffic is a continuing issue at South Maple Elementary and the Middle School. Do you have any ideas for how to further control the increasing traffic?

I really don't have a definitive idea of how to do that. I feel the road built to take buses out of the mix has helped. We have a tremendous amount of parents who bring students to school which creates a problem in this area where two buildings converge. I do feel that parents need to be patient and leave themselves plenty of time and perhaps find a way to make this waiting time a good time to talk and share with their kids. I think we would all listen to any ideas anyone else has.

What do you consider the district's strongest/weakest points and how would you address them?

Our strongest point is our staff - administrators, directors, teachers, aides, etc. Also our community members who give us support. Our School Improvement Committee has spent countless hours to support our district. I also must say that the closing of the Elmira School turned into a wonderful plus with the Montessori School. A weak point for us and all Michigan schools is the state cutbacks and unfunded mandates. We also have some work to do to continue raising our scores in reading and math. While we can't do much about the first, we are working on the second.

Kevin Johnson

€ 4440 Kimball, Gaylord

€ Age: 38

Occupation: president, Johnson's Propane

Number of years on Gaylord Community Schools Board of Education: none

Previous experience in Elected Office: 10 years on Otsego County Board of Commissioners

The board of education recently voted to include $1.2 million in cuts to the 2004-'05 budget. In a $25-million budget, where would you look to find savings?

Increase revenue. In Schools of Choice you have to market your school so you can bring more kids in. Your dollars come from your kids. Increase fees. I'm sure there are some fees that we're charging. We need to analyze them and see if there are some different ways to increase fees. Do we charge for field trips? Busing?

From what I understand there are grants out there we can go after.

A great way to get kids to keep their academics up is to hold them accountable so they can play sports. It may get to the point where you have to pay to participate.

Some programs may need to be self-funding.

We should audit expenses to attempt to cut costs. We would carefully compare outsourcing some expenses. Cutting personnel is a last resort. You have to have staff to have a quality education.

How do you assure students receive an adequate education as a result?

The purpose of Gaylord Community Schools is to provide an education. Any cuts that affect this must come last.

Ideally, keeping student-teacher ratios at an adequate level is paramount.

Contract negotiations are complete for 2003-'04. The contract for the teachers will need to be renegotiated for next year. What areas of concern do you see for the school (e.g. health care, wages, etc.) and how would you address them?

The primary source of revenue is state dollars. This has not increased for years. At the same time, health-care costs have skyrocketed, retirement costs have increased, and salaries have continued to rise. All other costs of running the school have gone up also, while state dollars have not increased. While we have great staff, at some point they may have to share in health costs.

Traffic is a continuing issue at South Maple Elementary and the Middle School. Do you have any ideas for how to further control the increasing traffic?